Freehub Oil

Since we get lots of calls and emails regarding winter lubes, I thought I'd pass this along. Our US hubs use a freehub oil for lube, and have been very reliable. On hubs that come with grease in the freehub, we have been replacing it with Freehub Oil from Dumonde Tech. It has a flow rating of -40, which is about the upper limit of my flow rating.

Iíve been using the Dumonde Tech chain lube since around 2006, just decided to buy it one day, and have been using it ever since. I was told it was good, which was why I originally started buying/using it. Good to know it is actually good afterall.

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Susitna100

Fresh off his win in the Arrowhead, Kevin Breitenbach is setting the pace with John Lackey with a 10 minute lead over Josh Chelf, who has been lighting up the shorter race series here in AK. Nice work to all of you. Looks like trail conditions are fast again this year after several really miserable slogs.

Fresh off his win in the Arrowhead, Kevin Breitenbach is setting the pace with John Lackey with a 10 minute lead over Josh Chelf, who has been lighting up the shorter race series here in AK. Nice work to all of you. Looks like trail conditions are fast again this year after several really miserable slogs.

It's is possible the lubrication in your hub is getting thick as the temperature goes down creating drag. The Dumonde Tech Freehub Oil is thinner even in the cold which creates less drag. The Freehub Oil still works great in the heat of summer as well. Their Freehub Grease come back out soon as well. It has a -30 degree Flow Point. www,dumondetech.com.

Originally Posted by sanitaire

I have 36 hole phil woods on my pugsley due too my shrekness in size. they seem too roll a bit slower then some other hubs...would this oil make it roll a bit faster.. colin.

Damn

My flow rating stops at about POSITIVE forty degrees. I am always pondering all you snow people in Ak or the Great lakes states or there abouts. Having to worry about what kind of oil will or will not freeze up. We use 120 weight gear oil here in Az everything else just evaporates or spontaneously combusts. When you hear your hub sounding dry here and you are near or on pavement you can use some liquid asphalt from the street to get you home, but then you really have to haul ass because if you stop your hub will freeze up and it will be your phalt.

Dumonde stuff does work well. I have used there liquid grease with good results that said, I have a feeling this stuff is just 0-W40 fully synthetic engine oil. 0-W40 is a very high tech multi viscosity engine oil and the real deal I wouldn't hesitate to use it.

Chains have some specific lube requirements.. they need to stay well oiled to reduce friction, but they also need to not attract dirt. The not attracting dirt part is really what makes or breaks a good chain lube, or else we'd all just dunk chains in motor oil and go riding.

For hubs, grease is largely grease, and oil is largely oil. Its all about getting the thickness right. You can apply oil to *any* hub. DT Swiss, king, it doesnt matter.. Its just a matter of getting a proper thickness for the application.

Bar and chain oil is a similar thickness to specialty oils, but you can get a huge jug of it for 5 bucks, instead of a few ounces for $10+ with a bicycle brand sticker on it.

Im sure that dumond stuff is great.. but no greater than my thin grease/oil mix I pour in all my hubs now. Real difference is cost.

You can use smashed up bananas in a pinch. I have heard stories of people in south American countries running straight banana in their truck gear boxes. You would realy have to work the banana into the hub with your fingers though.

They say it is good down to -50F. And the really nice thing is their Freehub Buddy tool works with all "standard" style steel freehubs (with loose balls and pawl mechanism inside) - such as the Mukluk 3 hub, which is made by Formula. Also works on Shimano. I personally use this to prep my hubs before the first ride. The grease is fairly thin as far as greases go, but I wouldn't call it runny. It tends to keep its consistency well (vs some cheap greases which tend to separate in to globs and oil). For the hubs out there with pawl springs that are too light to use grease, I've always used the DuMond dark green chain lube.

They say it is good down to -50F. And the really nice thing is their Freehub Buddy tool works with all "standard" style steel freehubs (with loose balls and pawl mechanism inside) - such as the Mukluk 3 hub, which is made by Formula. Also works on Shimano. I personally use this to prep my hubs before the first ride. The grease is fairly thin as far as greases go, but I wouldn't call it runny. It tends to keep its consistency well (vs some cheap greases which tend to separate in to globs and oil). For the hubs out there with pawl springs that are too light to use grease, I've always used the DuMond dark green chain lube.

I've used the Soup in the past. It doesn't seem to have any adhesion properties. Killed bearings in a matter of 300mi in both my hubs and bb. Not to say it won't work for you. That's just my experience.
I can understand using bar oil for lube in summer, but the reason for this post was to let folks know what works in extreme cold. All of the bar oil I have used in my chainsaw would need to be thinned considerably to function well at -40.
That little bottle of Freehub Oil will last most folks several years of winter use.